Category: editing

Improve Your Writing Through Editing

In a past tip for new and aspiring writers I discussed the importance of beta readers for your work. Getting feedback at all stages of your writing is crucial to improve your writing.

Another way to improve is to become a better editor of your own work. I’ve found that a great way to do this is to start with others’ work. Reach out to peers and ask them if you can beta-read their work. This is valuable for several reasons:

  • It shows you that everyone–even the best writers–have messy initial drafts
  • You’ll recognize weaknesses (punctuation, spelling, word choice, etc.) in others’ writing–and by recognizing this, you’ll learn to recognize it in your own work
  • You’ll begin to hone your “editor’s eye” and learn to improve your own editing

It is true that naturally, some of us are better editors than others. Some great writers are just not good at seeing the mistakes in their own work, including blatant spelling errors. Not every great writer is a great editor, but honing your “editor’s eye” will make your writing better. Another benefit: nurturing your ties with other writers means that they will return the favor and edit your work at some point.

I am naturally blessed with a decent “editor’s eye,” but when I began to edit professionally the experience enhanced my self-editing. I’d find myself writing something, and recognize the mistakes I picked up in my clients’ work. Passive voice is a still a huge problem for me, but I’m getting better at recognizing it as I write because I so often flagged it for others.

There are many tips out there that can help you become a better self-editor. Here’s a post that recently appeared on the New England Speculative Writers blog, courtesy of Morgan Sylvia. You can also google “self-editing.”

Now go forth and write (and then edit!)

 

Beta Readers–Yes, You Need Them

Beta Readers are Your Friends

Last week, I posted about the importance of finding a critique group. This week I want to discuss a related item–getting beta readers for your work.

A beta reader improves your writing in many ways:

  • They can tell you “what’s working” and “what needs improvement”
  • They catch spelling and grammar mistakes
  • They can catch plot holes and logical inconsistencies that you’re “invisible” to
  • They may catch inadvertent racism, sexism, ableism, etc.

If you’re a new writer, you’ll find that there is always a slight disconnect between what you think you’ve written or intend, and what readers will glean.

In the Eye of the Beholder

You may write what you think is the perfect fight scene. Perhaps you love fight scenes in books, and have read hundreds.

Once you give that scene to beta readers, you may find it’s not so perfect after all. One reader may tell you it sounds clichéd. Another may have weapons experience, and tell you that there’s no way your protagonist would have that kind of firearm on them. Another may note that the human body could not do the moves you described.

It is important that you be open to any feedback you receive. It doesn’t mean you have to take all of it, but you need to learn to put your ego aside and accept that your beta readers are picking up on things other readers might as well.

Finding Beta Readers

You will find that most people feel honored to be asked to beta read your work. Ask members of your household, classmates, friends. If you are a member of a writers’ group you have built-in beta readers there. You could also ask in a Facebook group devoted to your genre, if you belong to one.

Ideally, you’ll want another writer to read your work, along with one or two people who like the genre you write. Having an editor or grammar nerd is also helpful.

Now, go forth and write!

 

Doors Close, Doors Open

About a week and a half ago I wrote a blog post in which I pretty much laid myself bare. I was brutally honest about several things–some pertaining to me and some that speak more to the experience of being a middle-aged woman.

The response to that post was amazing. I linked to it on Facebook, and the comments were affirming and heartwarming. At least a half-dozen people privately messaged me to share their own thoughts and experiences.  One person messaged me to ask if he could share the post with his wife, who teaches a Women’s Studies course (I said yes.) Although some of my family members did not react completely positively to the post, and it was scary as hell for me to be that honest, all in all it was a positive experience. It really caused me to turn a corner I’d been needing to turn.

I’d certainly peeked around the corner several times, but had never fully stepped out. That post was my stepping out. That post was the moment I really embraced the label writer and decided I was going to stop being so afraid to fail at the writing thing.* Although the post was about other things as well (finding myself without paid work, being middle-aged and overweight and knowing how society views that), at a deep, personal level I shifted. I shifted from hoping I could be a writer to deciding I would be one.

It feels good.

As a result of that post, another amazing thing happened. I was offered an editing gig. It’s part-time for now, and I’m technically a contractor (which is how I’ve been employed for my last several jobs anyway, minus the Barnes & Noble stint.) But I’ve been wanting to do real editing work for many years, and I love the idea of helping other authors achieve their dreams. I’m really excited about this! It will also inform my own writing, and show me more of the publishing cycle.

I’ll be editing for Tulip Romance, currently a small start up. The owner previously owned another press, however, so she knows her stuff!

I hope you’ll visit occasionally to see where this road takes me 🙂

* I will also be blogging more frequently. Some of it will be the keeping-it-real type stuff like last time, and some will be humorous. I’ll post periodic updates on my own writing as well.